Pete lives in the Pohangina Valley, Aotearoa/New Zealand and writes about travelling and people, mountains and other wild places, photography, Aotearoa-NZ, natural history, strangeness and possibility, wondering, life in general and a swag of other stuff. ('Paw-HUNG-in-uh' is a close enough pronunciation.)

29 May 2009

Demons and Angels

A man walks back from the beach at half past four in the evening; he walks out of the sunlight, and the evening rises up his body as he steps away from the sea. The light climbs to his chest, his shoulders, his head; another step and he crosses the border into night. Behind him, the steel-blue sea, above that the perfect sky. Nothing on the water; in the sky, only two swallows, darting and soaring.

…

All night the little cabin fills with the distant thump and slow roar of surf breaking, sometimes one roar after another, quick, hurried; sometimes the gradual dying away before the next big breaker booms down. Sometimes the sound dies away completely, so for a few seconds all that remains is the memory—then nothing. Where has the sea gone? Has it begun to gather itself far from shore, building the monstrous wave that will wash this place from the ill-named Earth?

Silence.

Then the next breaker collapses and the pattern resumes; the land relaxes and sleep creeps through the cabin like a slow, rolling swell rising on the deep ocean.

…

In the evenings I read Moominvalley in November, occasionally reading the best bits out loud to Anne-Marie who laughs and doesn't mind. She responds by offering to read me bits from A Woman's Book of Yoga so I can learn how to align my menstrual cycles with my chakras.

…

At the edge of the lagoon we flush a heron, which rises into the air slowly, legs dangling, then bobs through the cold, grey air above the perfectly still water. Something about the bird's colour, and perhaps other things noticed subconsciously, says this is not our common white-faced heron. The bird alights on the sand on the far side of the lagoon and pulls its head into its shoulders, begins striding on enormous, dull yellow feet. The bill has a hint of a downward curve and appears blunter than the needle bill of the white-faced heron; the drab, brownish-black plumage and complete absence of any white around the head confirms the identification. I'm looking at the first New Zealand reef heron I've ever seen.

For the rest of the day I can't stop thinking about it, delighting in the sighting. Not just a glimpse—a chance to study it as it stalked along the beach, looking like a grumpy old man until, once, it extended its head on that long neck and stabbed at some morsel and in that moment became once more a heron. I photographed it from a great distance, a record only, confirmation of the identification. The better record remains in memory.

...

We sit on the beach and look out at the empty sea. Further along, towards the northern end, a black shag spreads his wings in the afternoon sun. He looks like something exiled from the shadows of the headland behind him. Wind sends sand showering against our backs, hissing around the big driftwood log against which we've settled; a Caspian tern flies the length of the shore with its pointy bill down, scrutinising the surf; ragged clouds form and dissipate over the ocean. The place feels old, like a glimpse of the future—a future after humans have gone. A hint of winter in the wind, a suggestion of some sub-Antarctic island. Before I die I want to walk the loneliest beach in the world, where gulls fly yelping over wet black shingle; where the pale bones of whales lie beside storm-piled kelp and glaciers crawl from iron-grey cloud to calve bergs into a black sea rolling like oil, studded with ice and swirling with ghosts.

…

We walk south to Driftwood Cove in the evening. From the track below the cliffs, and again when we reach the cove, we watch a big surf roll in and shatter on the rocks. The sea rises, heaving in a huge, narrowing, green-blue wall that races forward before the first trace of white appears along the crest; the wall curls over and bursts into white that speeds along the length of the onrushing wave; a tremendous roar—and then the next wall of ocean begins its heave towards the sky. Far out at sea a line of light separates ocean and looming sky. Faced with such immensity, such enormous dimensions and power, one must surely recognise the insignificance of humans. How could one not be awed? In moments like these I can almost accept Nietzsche had something worthwhile to say despite his heartlessness towards the humanity he despised: speaking of ewige Wiederkunft (“eternal recurrence”)—the challenge issued by a demon who reveals we must live each moment of our lives again and again in exactly the same way—Nietzsche asks how we would respond to such a revelation. He goes on to explain: “The question in each and every thing, 'Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight.”

I watch gannets circle and soar in a sky coloured like lead; white birds bright against a sky heavier than the sea. From this distance they look like angels and I think maybe I understand those who would respond to Nietzsche's demon by saying, “You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.”

…

We walk back in the twilight, the waning gibbous moon shining through cloud onto the ocean, the way it must have shone before any human walked the Earth; before the first dinosaurs; before the first creature crawled or slithered from that sea—that sea on which a waning gibbous moon lights a pathway to the night horizon. And after the last pink and orange has faded; after the dark in the foliage of treees and in the clefts of rock has turned black; after the clouds have begun to blur and take on that faint tinge of mauve and violet over the steel-grey sea; after these changes, the horizon remains—the boundary between sky and sea. The horizon, which is nothing more than a concept—what remains is sky and sea, and their difference creates something that does not exist.

…

After breakfast we left on foot for the Cove of Giants. A little shag swam around in the lagoon, sometimes disappearing below the surface then reappearing a few seconds later. It swam to the log jam in the middle of the lagoon and climbed out, spread its wings in the sun. The feathers of shags resist water less than the feathers of most other birds; by saturating easily they trap less air, enabling the bird to dive and swim underwater better but requiring it to dry out after fishing. What do shags do in rain, or in cold, damp weather? How easily do their feathers dry? How does a shag stay warm?

They look so strange, always peering as if they're slightly myopic. To me they've always seemed as if they go about their lives with a greater disregard for humans than any other bird I can think of; fishing, drying their wings, going somewhere to attend to shag business—even when we approach too close and they fly off they seem to do so without acknowledging our role as disturbers. One can almost hear the sigh and “Whatever...” as they take off and fly to elsewhere.

We had no idea whether the shag at the lagoon was male or female—can humans tell them apart by superficial features? Even if not, shags can, and that's what matters (which is why we still have shags to enjoy and wonder about)—but this bird seemed like a male and I had an overwhelming urge to call him (it) Gerald. I have no idea why.

The wind had turned nor'west and felt mild; with the morning sun on our backs we began to warm up and soon shed a layer of fleece. Even in the shadow of the enormous, eroded cliffs the temperature remained pleasant. The cliffs, scoured by rain and wind and driven sand, hung above us on the right; to the left, the slope below the track fell steeply to the sea and the jumble of massive, angular boulders against which great rolling swells from the Pacific rose into luminous waves and destroyed themselves in wild explosions of white, foaming spray.

At Driftwood Cove we prowled the beach, inspecting the shingle, fascinated by thousands of fragments of shells—the former homes of long dead molluscs—and stones of myriad colours and patterns. We wandered and stopped and moved slowly on and stopped again, feeling that at any moment something even more remarkable might appear. Arrested by possibility, we could hardly bear to leave.

Eventually we climbed the track into sunlight then descended once more to the Cove of Giants. A massive pine lay at the edge of the sea, neither fully on land nor fully submerged. Like the horizon, the edge of the sea remains indefinable. The trunk, polished by who-knows-how-many wild seas, had taken on a diffuse pattern of livid blue-greys and green-greys, like the body of a dead animal. I photographed it from various angles but couldn't frame it in a way that seemed satisfactory, that conveyed its massive bulk or the wild, organic shapes and textures and colours of the stump and the way the surf rushed and foamed up the sand to curl around the bole. The tree, or its remains, seemed to possess the patience of things occupying the border between the animate and inanimate; although apparently dead, it retained the memory of its life. Now it waited, perhaps for the storm in which it would finally break apart and wash away with the last of its life; the ruins of its moments drifting away, washing up on shores elsewhere. How long would it wait? I have no idea. I'd first seen it a year and a half ago and still it seemed utterly unchanged.

The line between sunlight and shadow crept north along the beach as the morning wore on, then began to slide south again although the sun hadn't reached its peak in the sky. I realised the apparent anomaly reflected nothing more than the shape of the headlands towering above us—the skyline of those great, looming cliffs. On the walk to the cove I'd stopped where the track passed close to the cliff. The face looked unstable, apparently little more than consolidated sand. Like trainee rock. I wondered how secure it was. I turned to Anne-Marie.
“You wouldn't want to be here in...”
“Shsh!” she said, glaring at me. “Don't say it!”
“What? You mean...”
“Shsh! Quiet, you!”

Now, on the beach at the Cove of Giants, at least we'd have some chance of dodging the disintegrating cliffs, I reasoned, probably illogically. We'd be able to see the giant chunks bounding towards us and could escape to the sea where we'd be drowned, frozen and shredded on the rocks, not necessarily in that order. But at least we wouldn't be crushed to death.

Of course, if we survived, we'd be trapped at the cove and the subsequent tsunami would finish us off.

Places like the Cove of Giants get one thinking like that. About mortality, time, transience. About the fragility and sheer strangeness of an individual life; its tenuous and utterly unfathomable hold on its own Being, which can wink out in an instant; yet the extraordinary resilience of life in its collective form. One can have these thoughts anywhere, but perhaps this is part of the real value of places like this: that they so readily encourage awareness of and respect for life, for lives, for impermanence and for persistence. If there's any truth in Nietzsche's eternal recurrence, it's not that an individual's life repeats itself, but that life repeats itself through individuals. Each individual has one, and only one, chance.

"What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!"Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: "You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine." If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, "Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?" would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?"

5. Although shags are commonly thought to spread their wings in order to dry them, the actual reason for this wing-spreading behaviour is still debated (see Cook & LeBlanc (2007) (pdf)).

Photos (click to enlarge them):1. Piwakawaka (fantail, Rhipidura fuliginosa) at Flounder Bay. Demon or angel? The same individual gave me a good telling off (well, maybe. The urge to anthropomorphise can be irresistible).2. Dawn, the main beach at Flounder Bay. The man sitting in the middle of the beach on his deck chair, with his chilly bin close at hand, was fishing (apparently). I bet I know how he would have responded to Nietzsche's demon.3. Wave breaking, Flounder Bay.4. The seaward end of the lagoon at twilight.5. The edge of the ocean, Driftwood Cove.6. Southern bell frog, Litoria raniformis, on the track between the Cove of Giants and Flounder Bay.7. The lagoon.

Kia ora Pete, This is one of the best descriptions of Love I have ever read. In the morning Tara and I celebrate our 16th morning of being together married. I can think of no better gift to give her than to read this post. Rangimarie,Robb

I love the twisted topical title of this - currently there are billboards in the bus shelters for a certain movie featuring Tom Hanks.

I was also struck by your definition of the horizon as something that doesn't exist but is created by the difference between sea and sky. I'd never thought of it like that before. So, if it doesn't exist, I ask myself, does it really matter if I don't get it straight in my photographs?

I can't help wondering if you were reading Moominvalley in November because it was that kind of trip, or if it became that kind of trip because you were reading MVIN. One way or another, a terrific post.

Peregrina, I thought about using "that" title, but then asked myself whether I wanted attention from people searching for it... As for tilted horizons, I usually find them terribly distracting, particularly when water's present (I want to put a towel on the downward side to soak up the water running out of the frame). If it serves some artistic purpose, that's fine, but too often it just seems accidental. Still, I can't imagine there could be any powerful and defensible reason to insist on straight horizons in most photos.Very pleased the post has evoked so many pictures. Thanks. :^)

Michael — nice response. I'm always pleased when something I've written encourages a reader to go out and enjoy the real world.

Dave, I'd have to think about that. A bit of both, I suppose — probably started when the book felt like the right thing to read then influenced how I felt. It's the last one she wrote; certainly one of the best and strangest. And thanks; pleased you liked the post.

“About the fragility and sheer strangeness of an individual life; its tenuous and utterly unfathomable hold on its own Being, which can wink out in an instant; yet the extraordinary resilience of life in its collective form.”

I’ve been visiting Flounder Bay most of my life, and I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with this sentence. The energy and the beauty of the place bring home to you the smallness of human life. When I’m there I feel insignificant, yet privileged. I seem to recall saying to you while we were last there, that I didn’t think I could live with out places such as Flounder Bay; yet Flounder Bay could well manage with out me [and humans in general].

A wonderful post, Pete. I especially liked the second and fourth photos. They make me want to go back!

[And for those who are not familiar with New Zealand’s seismic history … the closest city to the Cove of Giants was all but destroyed in the 1930s by a massive earthquake that was centred under these very cliffs, just a few kilometres north of the Cove of Giants. The whole region is constantly being shaken and twisted by earthquakes. Is it any wonder I get nervous when Pete says – usually while we’re walking under some towering cliff structure – “Imagine if there was an earthquake right now”?]

“You wouldn't want to be here in...”I must admit to having mused over that possibility for a few moments on a couple of more secluded beaches I've visited in California. Wonderful account of this place -- and on Anne-Marie's blog too. Nice to "see" a place through two sets of eyes.

Anne-Marie, I'm very glad I've done justice to the place in your eyes. You know it so much better and have such a long-standing connection with it. Thanks for introducing us :^)

Bev, it'd be terrifying, but being killed by a disintegrating building would be every bit as awful, and I know which environment I prefer. Glad you've read and enjoyed Anne-Marie's post, too — different perspectives add depth and complexity. (And you'd have loved that starfish).

What a wonderful post, Pete, you took me there with you. Being a landlocked sort of person, I've only experienced this sort of feeling in person at a couple of California beaches like Bev mentions, but no matter, you've made it all very vivid. And what a happy sighting of the reef heron!

I have problems with Nietzsche too - will be reading more of him later this year; maybe I'll feel more sympathetic afterwards.

I have often wondered how we would live our lives if we contemplated the the whole vast sum of it all, all the time. I once wanted to be able to see life through a telescope and microscope simultaneously, to grasp something that is as big and as small as everything. You do that here, somehow, photos and words.

Beth, thank you. Having been born and raised in Aotearoa/NZ, I've always been close to the sea. I love it and fear it, and although I can go for long periods far from it, on seeing it again the sense is one of relief, almost like coming home.I haven't read much Nietzsche, although I've read a reasonable amount about him (there, I've admitted it). What I do know makes me wonder about the meaning of his life — he seemed so tortured. I sometimes wonder whether his evangelism of adversity as the route to betterment might have arisen from a kind of subconscious despair: surely all this suffering must be redeemed in some way; surely all those happy people can't be leading better lives than mine? I can find some sympathy for him in that respect, and in his exhortations to embrace life, but so much of what he said I find abhorrent. But he'd have been the world's top blogger.

Robin Andrea, maybe most of us only see our lives, truly and as that "whole vast sum", as they're about to end? But that's a sad thought. How much better to recognise our lives as we're creating them? I like that metaphor of the telescope and microscope; I think the closest I've come to achieving that simultaneous perspective has been when I'm travelling, usually in places I'm encountering for the first time. I think I'll try harder now to manage that wherever I am. Thanks :^)

I knew I needed time for this post of yours, and perhaps a particular state of mind. I found it this afternoon, drowning in preparation for an exhibition that opens tomorrow - tomorrow, the day I print,frame and hang particular photographs; the last of which were taken just now ....

I needed someone to take me to a New Zealand beach and remind me of all I had felt there. Thank you.

I remember living in Istanbul, knowing that if there was an earthquake, if I wasn't buried and could still walk, that I would simply leave because Istanbul doesn't have what we have in NZ - you can't outrun falling rocks, kill an animal to live or disappear from a civilisation that has suffered a rupture courtesy of Nature. Istanbul is over-populated and lacking all kinds of life-saving strategies.

These days I live in a country so domesticated, so flat ... a country that has so destroyed Nature that I suspect I won't be able to outrun anything. We have nuclear energy here in Belgium and we have the largest fuel refinery complex outside of Houston. It will be an all-mighty explosion or a deadly pollution incident. There will be no sprint and I do believe that kiwis grow up thinking of these things ...

This blog, and the photographs it contains, actually took my breath away, and on more than one occasion...Pete, it is such a pleasure to be able to turn to my computer and receive such a gift from the screen. Thanks a million times over for sharing this, and your Self, with us all...and thanks Anne-Marie, as Pete says, for the "introduction"! *smile* I am hanging out for the next instalment.....!

KSG, thank you. I appreciate the encouragement :^) I'm looking forward to the next instalment too — but that will require another visit to Flounder Bay. Not that it needs much cajoling to get me there...

Hungry pixies, no need to apologise. Commenting can be a mission sometimes, and in any case I know my attempts to write are appreciated by enough people to keep me trying (I know a few people IRL who've never commented, and that's just fine). Anyway, thanks for the thoughts and encouragement. Appreciated :^)

Very moving and thought inspiring post. I want to make a proper comment, but I need time to think about it and formulate my response. I've also been away all of August, so I'm still not in internet mode again, so I need time to feel comfortable about sitting in a chair for hours again!

About Pete

Pete lives in the Pohangina Valley, Aotearoa/New Zealand. His primary blog, Pohanginapete, is about travelling and people, mountains and other wild places, photography, Aotearoa-NZ, natural history, strangeness and possibility, wondering, life in general and a swag of other stuff. It has lots of photographs, too.
He updates his photoblog, The Ruins of the Moment, every few days (with the occasional hiatus).